SEC teams scramble for bowl eligibility

Wednesday

Nov 13, 2013 at 12:01 AMNov 13, 2013 at 11:26 PM

The Florida Gators haven't sat out the postseason nearly in a quarter century.

By JOHN ZENORAssociated Press

MONTGOMERY — The Florida Gators haven't sat out the postseason nearly in a quarter century. The Vanderbilt Commodores, who had been to four bowl games in 120 years before James Franklin's arrival, have a good shot at making it three in a row.Plenty of other Southeastern Conference teams also are jockeying for postseason eligibility or trying to spruce up their bowl resumés for more prestigious, better-paying games in the season's final weeks. Making a bowl means more money, practice time and exposure to recruits. Of course, the SEC can fill its coffers even more if a team is playing for the league's eighth consecutive national title. The bowl scramble goes well beyond the BCS championship game hopes of No. 1 Alabama and perhaps No. 7 Auburn. No. 9 Missouri, No. 10 Texas A&M and No. 11 South Carolina all have hopes of making a BCS game and/or playing for the SEC title.Eight teams already are eligible for the SEC's 10 guaranteed bowl slots, and only Arkansas and Kentucky don't have a shot at making the postseason.The injury-plagued Gators (4-5) are trying not to let the heat get to them, but they have to beat South Carolina or No. 2 Florida State to become eligible, assuming they triumph over Georgia Southern in between.Vanderbilt's 34-17 victory over the Gators significantly changed the bowl situation for both teams. The Commodores are 5-4 and need only one more win against a favorable ending schedule: Kentucky (2-7), Tennessee (4-6) and Wake Forest (4-6).Frankin, who led Vandy to its first bowl game since 1982 in his debut season, isn't interested in looking beyond going 1-0 each Saturday.“From an outside perspective, talking to the media or things like that, we do bring up some of the historical things because we're still trying to change people's perception about Vanderbilt football and what we've been and where we're going,” he said. “We'll talk about it a little bit. “Internally and with our program, we've been pretty consistent with our 1-0 message.”The bowl scramble is a nice issue for the SEC, which didn't fill the 10th bowl spot in Shreveport, La., last season.Vanderbilt has the inside track among the four teams trying to get to six wins and bowl eligibility. Tennessee, Florida and Mississippi State (4-5) all still need two more wins.The Volunteers must beat Vanderbilt and Kentucky after an open date after failing to make a bowl the past two seasons.Ending that drought, says safety Brian Randolph is “definitely our No. 1 focus.”“It's all we've been thinking about,” Randolph said. Guard Zach Fulton said Tennessee players met to stress the importance and benefits of getting to the postseason.“You have a lot of fun, you get to bond with your teammates on and off the field and you go to different sites and places you've never been before, and just the bonding and having extra practices is great,” Fulton said.The money's not bad, either, for the programs.For teams like Mississippi and No. 25 Georgia, upgrading their bowl destination can mean a much higher payday. Among the non-BCS games, the payout can range from $1.925 million for the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham to $8.5 million for Orlando's Capital One Bowl, which gets first dibs on teams who aren't in the BCS.The SEC champion will go to either the Sugar Bowl or the BCS title game in Pasadena, Calif. Schools get anywhere from $1.175 million to $1.875 million for bowls outside the championship game plus a travel allowance. The rest of the pie is divvied 15 ways, with one slice for each member and one for the SEC.“Certainly to move a second team up into the BCS structure, there's a significant payout for that as far as additional revenues are concerned,” said Mark Womack, the SEC's executive associate commissioner and CEO. The league is hoping it has the problem of trying to find a bowl site elsewhere if it has more than nine eligible teams beyond the BCS. “We have teams that become very attractive teams to those bowls,” Womack said. Now, the challenge is getting to them.

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